Jesi

Thursday 21st April.

We are parked up tonight in a car park in Jesi (43.51880 13.24182) where the local townsfolk have been kind enough to provide fresh water and facilities to allow us to dump our waste, and it's free. Thank you Jesi. We've been charged a lot more for worse, or fewer, facilities in Italy so it's nice to get a free night before we sail to Greece tomorrow.

We needed a supermarket stop before we left and we usually stock up with basics at Lidl for two reasons, firstly because I have a database of locations and secondly because it's cheap. But we've found the quality and variety of food at Lidl in Italy leaving a lot to be desired so today we visited a "Simply" supermarket for a few bits and pieces and we were so impressed that half way round I had to go back and swap the basket for a trolley. We weren't going to buy any cured ham but the guy on the deli offered us a slice from the piece he was cutting for the guy in front of us in the queue. Delicious, so we had to have some of that. The salami looked nice so we had some of that too. The Pecorini looked good so into the trolley it went, together with some other soft cheese, yoghurt out of the tub, mixed seafood for a pasta sauce, three tins of berlotti beans on special offer and a bottle of Chianti (always buy the one with the cock on the label).

Shopping done we found our parking spot and after lunch set off to explore the walled medieaval town. It's a couple of hundred feet above the car park but the thoughtful folk here had put in a lift for those of us who didn't fancy the steps. I doubt you could spend a fortnights holiday here but we were pleasantly surprised with Jesi. We walked from one end of the town to the other along a pedestrianised street, stopped for an ice cream (half the price we paid in Florence) visited a couple of churches, an art gallery and the Cathedral. We might have done more but the tourist info office was closed as was the only museum we found. The Cathedral was particularly impressive, occupying one corner of the Piazza Federico 2nd, the largest Piazza in the town on the site where the Roman forum once stood. No marble was spared in the construction of this Cathedral. Here's a bit about Jesi.

http://www.italythisway.com/places/jesi.php

The Cathedral:

One of the side altars:

A pair of C13th columniferous Lions just inside the main entrance:

Not sure of the original purpose of this building but it's private apartments now:

Obligatory alleyway photos as promised:

Not sure of the Arsenal connection with Jesi but it's good the kids get a chance to learn how to "play the Arsenal way":

 

 

We sail from Ancona tomorrow at 4.30 in the afternoon, arriving in Patras at 3.30pm the following day. This will be our third year visiting Greece in the springtime and whilst we love all of Greece I think we are restricting ourselves to the Pelleponese and the Mani this visit and we particularly want to visit Mycenae. We're booked back on a ferry on the 9th June but we've got a lot to sort out in the UK when we get home so I think we may be leaving Greece a little earlier than originally planned. We'll see.

Next post from the Pelleponese!!

Pat

 

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